d by amateurs, were not uncommon, and no significance can be
attached to the event.

In 1622, as we learn from the Herbert Manuscripts, the Curtain was
being occupied by Prince Charles's Servants.[144] In the same year the
author of _Vox Graculi, or The Jack Daw's Prognostication for 1623_,
refers to it thus: "If company come current to the Bull and Curtain,
there will be more money gathered in one afternoon than will be given
to Kingsland Spittle in a whole month; also, if at this time about the
hours of four and five it wax cloudy and then rain downright, they
shall sit dryer in the galleries than those who are the understanding
men in the yard."

[Footnote 144: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 59; cf. Chalmers's
_Supplemental Apology_, p. 213, note _y_. Murray gives the date
incorrectly as 1623.]

Prince Charles's Men did not remain long at the Curtain. At some date
between June 10 and August 19, 1623, they moved to the larger and more
handsome Red Bull.[145] After this, so far as I can discover, there is
no evidence to connect the playhouse with dramatic performances.
Malone, who presumably bases his statements on the now lost records of
Herbert, says that shortly after the accession of King Charles I it
"seems to have been used only by prize-fighters."[146]

[Footnote 145: Murray, _English Dramatic Companies_, I, 237, note 1.]

[Footnote 146: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 54, note 2.]

The last mention of the Curtain is found in the _Middlesex County
Records_ under the date February 21, 1627.[147] It is merely a passing
reference to "the common shoare near the Curtain playhouse," yet it is
significant as indicating that the building was then still standing.
What ultimately became of it we do not know. For a time, however, its
memory survived in Curtain Court (see page 79), and to-day its fame is
perpetuated in Curtain Road.

[Footnote 147: See Jeaffreson, _Middlesex County Records_, III, 164,
from which the notice was quoted by Ordish, _Early London Theatres_,
p. 106.]

CHAPTER V

THE FIRST BLACKFRIARS

The choir boys of the Chapel Royal, of Windsor, and of Paul's were all
engaged in presenting dramatic entertainments before Queen Elizabeth.
Each organization expected to be called upon one or more times a
year--at Christmas, New Year's, and other like occasions--to furnish
recreation to Her Majesty; and in return for its efforts each received
a liberal "reward" in money. Richard Farrant, Master of the Winds